This invention relates to a connector connectable to an object such as a flexible printed circuit (FPC).
For example, this type of connector is disclosed in JP-B 4030120 (Patent Document 1), the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
As shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, the connector 900 disclosed in Patent Document 1 is connectable to a flexible board (object) 950. The flexible board 950 has two protruding portions 952 protruding sideward. Each of the protruding portions 952 is provided with wired patterns 954. The connector 900 includes a housing 910 and a plurality of contacts 920 held by the housing 910. The housing 910 is formed with two receiving grooves 912. The receiving grooves 912 are located at opposite sides of the connector 900, respectively, and open forward. Each of the contacts 920 has two contact portions 922 which vertically face each other. The contact portions 922 of the contact 920 are arranged within the receiving groove 912. When the flexible board 950 is pulled rearward under a state where the protruding portions 952 are located forward of the receiving grooves 912, respectively, the protruding portions 952 are received into the receiving grooves 912, respectively, so that each of the wired patterns 954 of the protruding portions 952 is brought into contact with the contact portions 922 of the corresponding contact 920.
When the connector 900 of Patent Document 1 is in a connected state where the connector 900 is connected to the object 950, the contact portions 922 of each of the contacts 920 vertically sandwich the protruding portion 952 of the object 950 with a predetermined spring force. The connected state of the connector 900 to the object 950 is maintained by this spring force. When the number of the contacts 920 is small, sufficient spring force cannot be obtained so that the connected state might be canceled, for example, by continuous vibration or impact. Moreover, it is difficult to check from outside whether the contact portion 922 of the connector 900 of Patent Document 1 is in contact with the wired pattern 954 or not. In other words, it is difficult to check whether the connector 900 and the object 950 are properly connected to each other or not.